Archive for the ‘Parties’ Category

It’s safe to say I’m the worst at updating my blog. Maybe one of these days I’ll overload you with tons of photos and stories and whatnot, but for now, I’ll just skip ahead to this past weekend – Cooper and Boone’s birthday party! Cooper turned four, and in a few weeks Boone turns one (which is crazy talk – all of it). Since pretty much all the same people would be invited to each birthday party, I thought we might as well have one big shin dig. And now that it’s over, I’m thinking that’s the way to go (until one of them protests, I guess)!

The REALLY awesome thing about this party is that I met a mom who recently threw her son a construction-themed party, and she hooked me up with construction tape, happy birthday banners, table clothes, etc. I might make sure next year’s birthday party theme is the same as her son’s next birthday :)

Cooper walked in fashionably late to his party, after his second soccer game of the day. And Coach Jordan somehow didn’t collapse (he’s still recovering from knee surgery), and was on his feet all day trying to keep four-year-olds from tackling people, getting their heads caught in soccer nets, not scoring goals for the other team, etc. Yes, all of those things did happen. Whew. Oh. AND Texas Tech had their spring game IN Midland, and Jordan had to miss it. If that doesn’t show some kind of crazy love for your family, I don’t know what does!

It was so much fun having friends and family in from out of town, and all of our Midland friends in one place at one time!

Boone enjoyed his cupcake after easing into it… He was still a little unsure about the whole thing! Cooper ate his usual frosting off the top of the cupcake.

The next day was his actual birthday. It was so much fun celebrating this little guy. I was reminiscing via Instagram about how Cooper’s third year was such a big year for him… becoming a big brother, dad graduating from HBS, saying sad goodbyes to Boston, making a new home in Midland, and starting school. We’ve had some rough days, but when I sit back and consider all those changes for a three-year-old to go through, I really am impressed by how he’s rolled with the punches. I’m excited to see what another year brings our family!

Why does THREE sound so so so old?! Maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones, but man… it was hard to wrap my mind around the fact that our chunky little goofy guy is three (and no longer chunky). It sure has been an awesome three years though. I have loved every second of being this kiddo’s momma. His silly personality makes me laugh all the time, his sensitivity makes my heart melt, and his love for trucks… well, I guess his love for trucks makes me smarter, because I now know the differences between an excavator, back hoe, bulldozer, etc. :)

Cooper is a big fan of donuts. And I was hoping to go for SIMPLICITY with this party, since I’m 38 weeks pregnant and all. So donuts and PJ’s it was! We got all of our donuts from Ohlin’s Bakery in Belmont, and they were (and still are) delicious. I’m pretty sure this past weekend will account for this bambino’s plumpness when he’s born.

I was absolutely loving all the PJs. I think kids in PJs might be the cutest thing ever, and I thought it was flat out fantastic that our adult friends came in theirs, too.

I’ll be honest – I really was a little sad to leave Boston for the summer, and I already miss certain things and people and whatnot… But man. Life is just so so so good in Texas. Backyards, warm weather, parking lots, Chick fil a, my peeps… Although, we are missing Jordan BIG TIME. He’s been swamped with finals and packing up our apartment for the summer. Poor guy.

We had Chris and Amy’s Couples Shower this past weekend. It was a perfect evening with so many wonderful friends… I didn’t want it to end! And oh my goodness – we have the most creative friends EVER. Check it.

Since we were here for Christmas, FOUR of our sweet friends have welcomed precious babies into the world. So there was a lot of baby passing around going on. Pretty wonderful stuff.

These two grilled up some tasty burgers

Chris and Amy! And Ella presenting them with her and Elli’s “special sandwich” :)

A few months ago, Jenny (Elliott’s momma) and I were talking birthdays, and the idea of a joint birthday party came up. Of course our boys love all the same things – cars, trains, tractors, etc., so that made it easy. The more we talked about it, the more fun it got (and the crazier we got, of course). I think our husbands appreciated us having each other as well :) The sad part is that these guys are moving in TWO weeks, because Allen is a second year at HBS and they’re peacing out. Sad day. But I’m super thankful we got to make some good memories with them this year!

Guys, I’m about to post a lot of pictures.

The invites:

Here are the birthday boys and their families

Setting everything up got a little crazy… I was quickly reminded of Cooper’s First Birthday Party, when I had my family in town, along with my sweet in-laws, and a few friends who all help set up. Needless to say, Jenny and I were maybe running around towards the end trying to make sure we had time to get home and change out of our rained-on homeless-looking attire. It all came together :)

We had the party in McCullough Hall – a dorm lounge on campus. I guess when you have a party at HBS, there’s bound to be a portrait of someone above the fireplace – Mr. McCullough, everyone.

After about cupcake number 5 (give or take 10), it was a little tricky to get a family pic :)

Sarah was “the fun aunt” and pushed Coop all around the room. Not an easy task, my friends. And the bottom left cracks.me.up. Cooper and Elliott have a funny little friendship :) Sharing is hard, guys!!

Here were a few signs indicating the party was over. And Cooper was officially over-served.

A big thanks to all of our sweet friends who came and celebrated with us!! We loved making memories with all of you.

Oh, these two!! Remember when Matthew proposed?? And then when I took some pictures of these two really cute/hilarious/fun/engaged people? Well, we had a Couples Shower for them last night, and it was so much fun getting to celebrate them with many of their close friends. And it’s weird to think about (and by weird, I mean so depressing), but it was probably our last big shindig at Casa Grande. Man, this house has been good to us. And good for parties and fun.

They played a little game where they were asked questions like “who’s the better cook,” or “who is more spontaneous,” and they would lift either Matthew or Sabrina’s shoe for whoever they thought fit the question best. So fun!

Sabrina and her momma, and then the three little pigs (during another game that was played… so funny)

Where oh where to begin! The past few days have been filled with so much fun, sweet family time, and eating, of course. And lots of picture taking, as you’ll come to find out :)

First off… man, we just have the best family ever. My parents and sister flew in for the party (FLEW IN! they are so sweet), and Jordan’s parents came, and they all just helped so so much. And thanks to Selena and Casey, and (whoever else stole my camera and took pictures when I would get sidetracked) for taking so many pictures. It was so fun to celebrate Cooper with everyone, but also, so fun to be reminded of how much love we’re surrounded by. So thankful.

I’ll start from the beginning… So when Cooper was an itty bitty baby, Allison showed me a few fun ideas on Pinterest for monthly photos of babies throughout the first year. I saw one that had fun, colorful patterns the baby was laying on each month, and someone gave us a onesie with a tie on it, so that kind of became our monthly photo, in a last-minute round about way. It was fun to do – and it made me bust out the sewing machine at least once a month to sew a tie onto a onesie. Plus, Jordan is a tie man – he wears one every day – so that made it even more fun.

It’s so fun to see how much our little guy has grown. Here’s what the final product looked like.

So then a few months ago, I started thinking about this whole first birthday party thing. Why not do ties?! It’s been the theme of every month so far, why not make it the theme of his first birthday? Haha. So ties it was. For the invites, I got the text part of the card printed, cut out the ties out of scrapbook paper, and then sewed those bad boys on.

Jordan’s mom (Selena) is a cake-baking master, and has made her boys birthday cakes a bajillion times. We’re talking Ninja Turtle and Superman cakes, people! So the tie cake probably seemed super simple and easy to her :) I baked the cakes earlier in the week, froze them, and then put it all together and iced it the night before the party.

Then I started playing with the leftover icing and Amy had the bright idea to farkle and see who had to eat a handful of icing. She lost. Muah ah ah!

I saw this fabric garland on pinterest and thought it would be fun for the cake table. It’s a good way to use extra fabric!

My friend from church, LeAnne, made these AWESOME cookies! How perfect and adorable are they?? If anyone is interested in her beautiful work, let me know and I’ll shoot you her e-mail.

I sewed ties for all the little boys who came to the party, and I used this tutorial. And guys, I’m like MEGA beginner on the sewing machine, so if anyone out there is looking for a fun, easy project, check it out. And then with the extra fabric I had, I made some fabric rosettes for the girls (and me… haha).

It was Amy’s idea to put a tie on Deuce. She does not love dogs. That makes this even better!

Happy Birthday to Coop!

I was inspired by my friend Janae, who told guests of her little boy’s party to bring certain food items to benefit a local ministry. So, that, along with the fact that we’re moving to Boston in three months (oh my gosh, three months?!?) and trying to get rid of our stuff, made me think this would be the greatest thing to do! I’m so excited to take it to the Dream Center.

We had a par-tay for Lindi and Taylor Sunday night. It was so fun to hang out and celebrate these two lovebirds.

I had a fun sewing project in these little pennants. Amy cut out fabric and I went to town on the ol sewing machine. I learned that this is my kind of project… straight lines… but not TOO straight :) Aaaand they’re still hanging in my backyard.

We did a little homemade photo booth, with a sheet we bought at Wal-Mart. A big thanks to Aric and Casey for letting us use their from props from 4 Frames Photobooth!

beverages, homemade ice cream, and a place for peeps to write to Lindi and Taylor

Grady Spencer graced us with his musical talent throughout the whole party! I bought his CD and can’t stop listening to it. So good.

All the married couples played a fun game where the wifeys run and grab balloons, then pop them in hubby’s lap. Pretty hilarious. Tracy won. She even went and put on tennis shoes… haha

I gotta brag on my friends a little bit. A lotta bit. They’re amazing, and they threw us the greatest baby shower known to man!

First off, Allison & Jordan are the most gifted party planners/throwers I know, so the fact they were both hostesses, along with all of my other talented friends, made for a pretty shweet party.

My friends know I love popcorn, and it is most definitely one of my weaknesses in life, so they went with a “brittany is ready to POP” theme. I mean, seriously, every single detail tied into the theme in some awesome, creative way, and it was so fun to see it come all together!

I’ll post a couple photos that Jordan took, but if you want the fo real rundown, visit Allison’s blog post on the partay, along with Jordan’s post on Kojo Designs

Check out these invites. Jordan designed them (isn’t she SO good??)

and all the popcorn. goodness gracious it was delicious.

fun decorations

i just love it!!

all the guests wrote on these cards for Cooper. I can’t wait to read them to him someday.

Aside from all of the decorations, fun ideas, and so much time that went into this celebration, the most amazing part was feeling so much love, and knowing that we’re experiencing something so great with our friends and family. Throughout the entire day, I just couldn’t find the words to express how grateful we were or how much we appreciated everything – super humbling and comforting. Cooper is already one loved kiddo – that’s fo sho.